It would be interesting if you sliced the data in other ways. For example I assume these numbers are by units, but what about by revenue. How about by map providers - Navteq vs Tele Atlas.

I'd also love to know what the "average" unit sold these days is. How big is the screen? Does it have Bluetooth? Traffic?

What is missing here is the length of time in the market. I assume Garmin has been selling in the North American market a lot longer then TomTom and in Europe I would think it is the other way around. I see TomTom making a big push into the North American market in the next couple of years. All it takes is pricing their product right . Garmin has had the market almost to themselves for a long time. Putting out units with basically the same options and maps (i.e. the "nuvi" 6xx, 7xx, 8xx series) will not do it long term.

Actually Garmin's European market share is the same as TomTom's here. Both companies started in business at approx. the same time. While Garmin holds nearly 50% of the US market, steady for the past two years, TomTom holds less than 40% of the European market. In Europe, TT is portrayed as the over-priced gouger in many markets. Not unusual to find top line Garmin PND's for less than the comparable TomTom. Sales-wise, if the last quarter is any indication, things don't look bright for either TomTom or Teleatlas. While Garmin was reporting revenues up 35% and profit margins in the healthy 20% range, TomTom reported revenue down 11%, and margin down to only 3%. I don't see how they plan to drag market share from Garmin, since they can't afford any more loss. With regard to your question about Teleatlas compared to Navteq, the world of TomTom again doesn't look like sunny skys. Navteq reported sales UP 40%, with revenues of about $225 million, while Teleatlas sales turned south, going down 8% to a minor $80 million, less than 1/3 the revenue of Navteq. Things are far from rosy for TomTom or Teleatlas. Probably why the newest map updates are ridiculously priced at $129 from TomTom, compared to a street price of about $60 for Garmin. Would you really pay $130 for one map update? The long-term future looks a lot more promising on the Garmin/Navteq side of things.

Is now the time to buy consumer electronics?

They say there's no time like the present, and according to Richard Glikes, executive director of the Home Theater Specialists of America, that goes doubly so for buying electronic gadgetry. The reason? Blame it on China.

Given the state of the U.S. economy, spending your disposable income on high-tech toys may not seem like the best investment in 2008. But if you've already decided to purchase a TV or a new phone, you might be inclined to wait for prices to go down.

That might be a long wait, says Glikes. China is the production center for the vast majority of consumer electronics, and the heyday of cheap labor there may be rapidly coming to a close. For starters, blame the Olympics: In order to clear the air of pollution, many factories are shutting down in June, which could put a damper on the supply of many products. Also, China is tiptoeing towards better relationships with its workers: New labor and worker protection laws have pushed labor costs up 15 percent. The price of many components and metals used in making electronics is also going up.

Perhaps the biggest culprit of all: The falling U.S. dollar. The poor old greenback just doesn't go as far as it used to. Most notably it is falling against the euro, but it's also fallen considerably against the Chinese yuan, about 10 percent in the last year. In other words, if paid in dollars, Chinese companies now earn 10 percent less than they did a year ago due solely to the falling exchange rate. One can imagine that doesn't sit well with them.

In other words: Current prices may simply not be sustainable, and thus price increases may soon be on tap in order to shore up profits. Sure enough, prices are already going up for some LCD products. At the manufacturer level, says Glikes, prices in China are already up from 8 to 20 percent, and U.S. retail prices are soon to follow.

Get ready for a bumpy 2008.

and

Market Scan
Garmin Hit By The Tax Man
Carl Gutierrez, 04.30.08, 2:35 PM ET

Taxes and inventory have chased investors away from Garmin's otherwise strong quarter.
"Core profitability was better than expected, gross margins were up strongly quarter to quarter, and operating margins were quite strong," said Yair Reiner, an analyst at Oppenheimer, "and if the story ended there the stock would probably be up."
It didn't though, and Garmin (nasdaq: GRMN - news - people )'s shares fell 11.0%, or $5.11, to $41.91, in late-morning trading, when investors learned about an unexpected tax hike, as well as a spike in inventory.
For the quarter the company reported a 5.6% earnings increase to $147.8 million, or 67 cents per share, from $139.9 million, or 64 cents per share, reported in last year's corresponding quarter. The quarter's profit came on the back of a 34.9% increase in sales to $663.8 million from last year's $492.2 million. Despite the increases, the figures were well short of Wall Street's forecast of $163.5 million, or 75 cents per share, in earnings on sales of $705.1 million. Garmin, which is based in the Cayman Islands but has its operational headquarters in Olathe, Kan., makes navigation, communications and information products.
Sales from the company's automotive/mobile segment, by far its largest business, increased 42.7% to $451.9 million from $316.6 million. Despite low expectations on the macroeconomic environment, Reiner said the increase was still lighter than expected.
Still, Reiner said the big reason for the drop in share price was the increased tax rate and inventory levels.
According to Oppenheimer's Reiner, the hike in the tax rate to 19% from 12% will cost Garmin "north of 30 cents per share" this year. Reiner said that the hike was a result of a change in the tax law in Taiwan affecting the repatriation of earnings. The vast majority of Garmin's manufacturing takes place in Taiwan. "Had it not been for the higher tax rate, Garmin would have made the street's target," Reiner said.
Reiner also credited an unexpected spike in inventory for Wednesday's drop in share price. The company's inventory spiked to 170-plus days from approximately 100 days last year, meaning it would take Garmin 170-plus days to sell its inventory based on the pace which Garmin sold products in the first quarter.
The jump in inventory means that Garmin's producing more than the market wants. "It's kind of a warning sign that companies are entering a situation where they'll be pressured to lower prices to move inventory," Reiner said. It can become potentially problematic because companies can get stuck with older inventory that won't sell, resulting in a write-off. During the conference call management said the high inventory was the result of preparation for a seasonally strong quarter, but Reiner pointed out that it explanation didn't explain why inventory was still much higher compared to previous corresponding quarters.

Every PND manufacturers is scrambling to make sales volume numbers and in doing so they are having a race to zero profit!

I see things will get worst this year even if we do sell 20-26M PND units in NA this year, most will be in the $199 or less price range. Garmin, TomTom Magellan will be blowing out lower end PND soon so they won't have to write it off. Current market is not as good as they have predicted since there are not much buyers as forecasted.

Just FYI, understanding the PND market is not enough, these guys have to come up with some compiling and feature rich products that consumer wants along with options that is not available from other PND products. If they can fulfill what the consumer want, they will have a better chance of staying in business next few years. Garmin NuviFone is a good idea but I don't think it will be available in Q3 this year! So everything is getting push back.

Magellan used to own 50% of NA market with their RoadMate 700 just a few short years ago, so Garmin can be also be vulnerable when their stock hit a low of $40 when it was up at $130 a few short months ago.

NO BODY IS SAFE and just let them keep selling to big box stores and mass market merchandisers club warehouses, if the low prices does not kill them, the returns will!

Be careful posting copyrighted articles without crediting the source.

The writer made some good observations. China is beginning to feel inflation pains, so yes, the heyday of cheap manufactured goods from China is probably past. Many manufacturers are now looking to countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Laos for their slave labor.

"Many manufacturers are now looking to countries like Vietnam, Thailand and Laos for their slave labor"

Yes they are looking into Thailand, but they are already not as competitive as Vietnam, but the quality in Vietnam is not as good.

Thanks for the warning about copy right, I was trying to post a link and credit the writer, missed the first one.

As far as profit margin goes, look towards single digit profit margins of maybe less than 5% as the standard. I feel bad for all these PND manufacturers, but I feel worst for retailers that will not be able to afford to sell PND's and make any money doing it. I think better if they sell the service to update maps, transfer data, repair etc.

I am looking for the cheapest place to buy a garmin 350 friction mount?

Try flea market or ebay

With the low prices of most PNDs and the increasing options why would anyone bother paying for an update. Keep it for a couple of years and replace it. My first unit last year was a Magellan Crossover and although it generally serves the purpose, the lousy (non-existent) customer support from Magellan would make it extremely unlikely I would ever buy another Magellan unit. In fact I recommended and helped friends (6-8) buy several Nuvi 250 and 260s over the past winter. They are all pleased on the functionality of the units. I see the PND becoming more standardized and multifunctional with open, editable POIs, routing functions that interface with the likes of Streets and Maps or Google Maps, easily and openly, and other functions like phones and/or internet access. All for the price of a current low end model. Part of your cell phone plan.
The day of the mass market, dedicated PND is coming to an end. I think it is up for grabs who will emerge winner. Perhaps none of the existing players. The dedicated PND, a great idea whose 15 minutes of fame may well be about over.

I am someone who likes to update their unit. I have a 2200T updated to a Crossover, and I hope Magellan will support the Crossover for a while (I know it's a long shot, but I can hope), becuase there is no other unit like it out there. You may be jumping the gun on the end of the PND era. I can get GPS style navigation on my current phone, but I don't want to have to refer to a phone sized (even iphone sized) screen while in the car. I am looking forward to the next generation of GPS's that will be more crossfunctional that will give us internet access etc., but I want my phone to be as small as possible and I am willing to cary around a dedicated GPS with a decent sized screen. I also do not want to pay an extra monthly fee for reliable GPS navigation.

The other issue with the current crop of phones is the GPS receiver is not nearly as sensitive as those in the dedicated PND's. Much more likely to lose the signal on your phone, and on many of them, it means reloading the route.

What does tomtom's 2Q 08 result comments mean for Garmin:)

I still think enough of TomTom support to get a few more map upgrades from them. I had a TomTom GO 300 with a dead battery and way outside of the warranty period. I got an RMA number and sent it in for repair; they sent me a brand new unit instead postpaid at their expense. For what I would have spent repairing my GPS I will gladly spend on a few map upgrades. This single act made me a believer in them backing up their name and reputation.

Interesting. Thanks. Bought a TOMTOM One XL a few months. Generally all pretty reliable except on one instance when it sent me over the Alps between Austria and Italy, which was meant to be the shortest route. What was meant to be a one-hour journey took two hours and a lot of exclamation marks in the car! What perfect timing to give me the bump-stir. Believe you me, Driving overs the Alps while breath-taking was scary! BTW, the start-up time on the One XL drove me nuts. I am not kidding you when I say you could go away and make yourself a cup of coffee before the unit is ready to rock and roll.